Dreaming While Awake?

I have host of problems which my sleep doctor believes to be associated with somer sort of sleep disorder. I will be having a second sleep study done next week followed by a daytime study as well. The doctor is specifically looking for narcolepsy and/or an Upper airway restriction.
I have lots of short term memory loss and excessive daytime sleepiness as well. Sleep apnea has been ruled out as of this point.
The newest symptom I am experiencing is dreaming while awake. I can be standing by the sink or working at the computer and dream- not daydream though actually have a dream. For example- While drying dishes and thinking about the slippery roads I dreamt of being in my car and spinning around the road in a circle and actually seeing the telephone pole I nearly missed only to realize my car did not have tires- it actually have ice skates instead- I could see me in my car like a third party and the color of my car was bright as well.
What causes us to dream while really being awake and functioning on some level? Does anyone have an experience similar and currently have a sleep disorder diagnosis?
Sharing your experience or giving any advice is greatly appreciated.

The stage of sleep in which we see dreams is the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage. And we dream because certain unexpressed emotions need to come out. But these emotions come out in symbolic language. The bright colour or the car means something significant for you.

Usually a period of about 90 minutes passes from onset of sleep to appearance of REM sleep. But in narcolepsy, a person may go from wakefulness into REM in no time. Hence dreams appear in "wakefulness".

The stage of sleep in which we see dreams is the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage. And we dream because certain unexpressed emotions need to come out. But these emotions come out in symbolic language. The bright colour or the car means something significant for you.

Usually a period of about 90 minutes passes from onset of sleep to appearance of REM sleep. But in narcolepsy, a person may go from wakefulness into REM in no time. Hence dreams appear in "wakefulness".

I have been experiencing similar issues, I haven't slept for five days, and about half way through the third day I had a nightmare while walking home from work... Can anyone tell me what I can do? And what these are?

I have been experiencing similar issues, I haven't slept for five days, and about half way through the third day I had a nightmare while walking home from work... Can anyone tell me what I can do? And what these are?

This is the first time that I have heard anyone having something similar to what I have recently been experiencing. I'm pretty rattled. I am a psychotherapist and two times this week I found myself in a "dream" while listening to a client, then saying something out loud to the client that had nothing to do with the conversation! I said something from the "dream" which couldn't have lasted more than a few second. I recently started taking the medication, Neurontin (gabapentin) but did not find this when reading about side effects. Anyone can relate to this, please share...

This is the first time that I have heard anyone having something similar to what I have recently been experiencing. I'm pretty rattled. I am a psychotherapist and two times this week I found myself in a "dream" while listening to a client, then saying something out loud to the client that had nothing to do with the conversation! I said something from the "dream" which couldn't have lasted more than a few second. I recently started taking the medication, Neurontin (gabapentin) but did not find this when reading about side effects. Anyone can relate to this, please share...

I just had a similar experience of feeling a dream state in the background while I am walking around in my waking life. It came on just after I left physical therapy for my frozen shoulder and lasted for the entire walk to my office. I still felt fully conscious and functional, but experienced dream fragments breaking into my consciousness, fading back when I had to converse or focus on something, then coming back when I was just walking or standing. I was both conscious of the waking world around me but the dreams were flashing through my brain. Very very odd! First time that's happened to me. I didn't sleep very well last night, which may be related. But if it happens again I will definitely see a doc. I am not on any medications.

I had this exact experience last night. I was cooking and started to have only what I can describe as dreams infringe on me while I was what I thought to be wide awake. The crazy thing is it would only last a second or two because I was continuing to cook, but it was causing me confusion. My daughter was nearby and anytime she would talk to me I was fully lucid and then when I went back to cooking it would start happening again. I was fine during dinner, but later that night while I was reading to my son it was happening again, I was reading to him but sort of making up parts of the book. It was really unsettling.

I just had a similar experience of feeling a dream state in the background while I am walking around in my waking life. It came on just after I left physical therapy for my frozen shoulder and lasted for the entire walk to my office. I still felt fully conscious and functional, but experienced dream fragments breaking into my consciousness, fading back when I had to converse or focus on something, then coming back when I was just walking or standing. I was both conscious of the waking world around me but the dreams were flashing through my brain. Very very odd! First time that's happened to me. I didn't sleep very well last night, which may be related. But if it happens again I will definitely see a doc. I am not on any medications.

Thank you for posting. I saw starting to think I was going mad, while my husband was passing my experience of dreaming while awake as a hallucination. I contacted my (sleep) neurologist about this latest new thing going on in my brain. I'm also going to contact my (migraine) neurologist and between those guys I should have an answer to post soon.

Background:

Hemiplegic Migraine with "stroke" or "seizure" like symptoms Special Episodes-just about everything will set off a migraine and I get the "special episodes" about every 5 years. My last episode, the paramedics thought I had a stroke, went to the ER and had another episode while in the waiting area to be called, so by the time I saw the intake nurse I couldn't even say my own name- I have never had 2 episodes in one day before and these were only hours apart.

Around 3 years ago I started off with Insomnia- could not go to sleep- no matter how tired I was, it lasted 3 or 4 days-Had a sleep study done, not much came of that one. Then a month later I'm back at my Sleep guru and I can't stay awake for the life of me, once I almost fell asleep while driving, very scary. I had a pattern of sleeping about 10-12 hours at night, waking up tired, going back to sleep about an hour after I woke up - sleeping for another 4-6 hours straight (no one could wake me up), then awake for a few hours at most and back to bed for another 12 hours. Back to the sleep study suite, spent the night and was woken up every early- then was forced to stay awake ( I tried to even sneak some standing while sleeping in there, I got caught-cause I forgot about all the monitors hooked up to my head)-every time they "let" me go to sleep, I'd hit the pillow and instant REM, then they'd wake me up (about 15-20 mins later) just as I started to get to the good part of my dream-That was pure torture for the entire day.

I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia with Long Sleep Time and went thru a couple of Rx's I turned out to be allergic to until we found Adderall Extended Release worked w/o allergic reaction. Started at 5mg to help combat daytime sleepiness, I'm up to 20 mg and added Celexa to boost my energy and avoid having to boost up my Adderall dosage again. I tried another comparable to Adderall but I ended up having to take twice as much to be effective at all, so back to the Adderall. About less than a year after the sleep issues popped up, I started to notice a loss in my cognitive functions- it was in my thought process, my vision, my hearing ( I can hear you talking, but I have no idea what you just said), my writing skills declined, memory was mush. So I went to my migraine doctor about this and since I could still articulate and be understood, he chalked it up to the aging process . A year went by and I got worse and asked again about getting tested for my cognitive, he declined to give me the test because he knew I would fail it ( yep, my doctor is funny). He prescribed instead a "memory booster" , used in patients with Alzheimer's -its a very low dosage and it helps when I can remember to take it. I have to break from it every now and then because it suppresses my appetite too much ( anorexia is a listed side effect)- it does help but only so much.

So to the part you all want to know- the day time dreaming while awake. I started noticing this a few months ago. It's a very strange feeling having an actual dream while awake. It's not like when your mind wonders or you're thinking about "future" plans or even fantasies. Since I am a very vivid dreamer at night and have at least 2-3 dreams per night , plus with the daytime sleepiness (sometimes the meds just don't work) I can see how my mind can easily get caught in between states of really awake and I want to lay down and sleep so I can dream. It happens to me, like I've read here- while at the PC or in the kitchen or even watching tv, walking the dogs. It happens whether I'm in a restful/relaxed position or actively exercising and fully awake. It's not the same as Zoning Out either. When I first searched for Daytime REM causes, Narcolepsy came up, although I do have signs of that, such as spontaneous muscle weakness and memory lapses, I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Connective Tissue Disorder . Also people with narcolepsy are for the norm, only asleep for a few minutes and its usually "emotionally" (supper happy, sad, surprised, etc) induced - they are for the most part "refreshed " when awake. For me, even on my wakey wakey meds, I sometimes need a nap. I think I'm only asleep for 30 mins at most- then my husband tells me it's been 3 hours. I say why didn't you wake me up? His response, I tried to but you growled at me. (never wake a sleeping bear).

Hopefully soon, I will have answers to the Dreams while awake and functioning.
* sorry for such a long post, I suffer from diarrhea of the typing fingers

Thank you for posting. I saw starting to think I was going mad, while my husband was passing my experience of dreaming while awake as a hallucination. I contacted my (sleep) neurologist about this latest new thing going on in my brain. I'm also going to contact my (migraine) neurologist and between those guys I should have an answer to post soon.

Background:

Hemiplegic Migraine with "stroke" or "seizure" like symptoms Special Episodes-just about everything will set off a migraine and I get the "special episodes" about every 5 years. My last episode, the paramedics thought I had a stroke, went to the ER and had another episode while in the waiting area to be called, so by the time I saw the intake nurse I couldn't even say my own name- I have never had 2 episodes in one day before and these were only hours apart.

Around 3 years ago I started off with Insomnia- could not go to sleep- no matter how tired I was, it lasted 3 or 4 days-Had a sleep study done, not much came of that one. Then a month later I'm back at my Sleep guru and I can't stay awake for the life of me, once I almost fell asleep while driving, very scary. I had a pattern of sleeping about 10-12 hours at night, waking up tired, going back to sleep about an hour after I woke up - sleeping for another 4-6 hours straight (no one could wake me up), then awake for a few hours at most and back to bed for another 12 hours. Back to the sleep study suite, spent the night and was woken up every early- then was forced to stay awake ( I tried to even sneak some standing while sleeping in there, I got caught-cause I forgot about all the monitors hooked up to my head)-every time they "let" me go to sleep, I'd hit the pillow and instant REM, then they'd wake me up (about 15-20 mins later) just as I started to get to the good part of my dream-That was pure torture for the entire day.

I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia with Long Sleep Time and went thru a couple of Rx's I turned out to be allergic to until we found Adderall Extended Release worked w/o allergic reaction. Started at 5mg to help combat daytime sleepiness, I'm up to 20 mg and added Celexa to boost my energy and avoid having to boost up my Adderall dosage again. I tried another comparable to Adderall but I ended up having to take twice as much to be effective at all, so back to the Adderall. About less than a year after the sleep issues popped up, I started to notice a loss in my cognitive functions- it was in my thought process, my vision, my hearing ( I can hear you talking, but I have no idea what you just said), my writing skills declined, memory was mush. So I went to my migraine doctor about this and since I could still articulate and be understood, he chalked it up to the aging process . A year went by and I got worse and asked again about getting tested for my cognitive, he declined to give me the test because he knew I would fail it ( yep, my doctor is funny). He prescribed instead a "memory booster" , used in patients with Alzheimer's -its a very low dosage and it helps when I can remember to take it. I have to break from it every now and then because it suppresses my appetite too much ( anorexia is a listed side effect)- it does help but only so much.

So to the part you all want to know- the day time dreaming while awake. I started noticing this a few months ago. It's a very strange feeling having an actual dream while awake. It's not like when your mind wonders or you're thinking about "future" plans or even fantasies. Since I am a very vivid dreamer at night and have at least 2-3 dreams per night , plus with the daytime sleepiness (sometimes the meds just don't work) I can see how my mind can easily get caught in between states of really awake and I want to lay down and sleep so I can dream. It happens to me, like I've read here- while at the PC or in the kitchen or even watching tv, walking the dogs. It happens whether I'm in a restful/relaxed position or actively exercising and fully awake. It's not the same as Zoning Out either. When I first searched for Daytime REM causes, Narcolepsy came up, although I do have signs of that, such as spontaneous muscle weakness and memory lapses, I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Connective Tissue Disorder . Also people with narcolepsy are for the norm, only asleep for a few minutes and its usually "emotionally" (supper happy, sad, surprised, etc) induced - they are for the most part "refreshed " when awake. For me, even on my wakey wakey meds, I sometimes need a nap. I think I'm only asleep for 30 mins at most- then my husband tells me it's been 3 hours. I say why didn't you wake me up? His response, I tried to but you growled at me. (never wake a sleeping bear).

Hopefully soon, I will have answers to the Dreams while awake and functioning.
* sorry for such a long post, I suffer from diarrhea of the typing fingers

I have been doing his for years. especially at work I call it sleep typing, i sometimes cannot tell if i was dreaming something or not. i have dreams of driving and hitting a curb the jolt alerts me and i realize im working.i had a dream i was playing softball while working and i just had a dream while typing i was running around trying to solve a murder case. I do it while driving also very scary.

I have been doing his for years. especially at work I call it sleep typing, i sometimes cannot tell if i was dreaming something or not. i have dreams of driving and hitting a curb the jolt alerts me and i realize im working.i had a dream i was playing softball while working and i just had a dream while typing i was running around trying to solve a murder case. I do it while driving also very scary.

I have been doing his for years. especially at work I call it sleep typing, i sometimes cannot tell if i was dreaming something or not. i have dreams of driving and hitting a curb the jolt alerts me and i realize im working.i had a dream i was playing softball while working and i just had a dream while typing i was running around trying to solve a murder case. I do it while driving also very scary.

I have been doing his for years. especially at work I call it sleep typing, i sometimes cannot tell if i was dreaming something or not. i have dreams of driving and hitting a curb the jolt alerts me and i realize im working.i had a dream i was playing softball while working and i just had a dream while typing i was running around trying to solve a murder case. I do it while driving also very scary.

i have a lot of similar actions im curious to see what your diagnosis is. im not sure what doctor to talk to yet. this has been going on for years i just always thought i wasn't getting enough sleep. i am constantly tired and yawn all day long and dream at work at least 3 times a day. sometimes i dream while driving and that scares me alot

i have a lot of similar actions im curious to see what your diagnosis is. im not sure what doctor to talk to yet. this has been going on for years i just always thought i wasn't getting enough sleep. i am constantly tired and yawn all day long and dream at work at least 3 times a day. sometimes i dream while driving and that scares me alot

Hi, I too experience strange feelings of being still asleep shortly after waking, going downstairs or even some time later. 'dreams' of being still in bed or doing something else.. starting with strange tingling and floating away ensation.. my GP says it is Hypnogogia

Hi, I too experience strange feelings of being still asleep shortly after waking, going downstairs or even some time later. 'dreams' of being still in bed or doing something else.. starting with strange tingling and floating away ensation.. my GP says it is Hypnogogia

This is so weird,what you explained happens to me, that in the middle of the conversation with someone i will drift into a dream and back then say something unrelated to the conversation and only then I would realise I was dreaming. This usually happens to me when am tired or I always thought it's sleep related. The other weird thing is that when I wake up in "a not my usual time to wake up", and still remember my dream;when I go back to sleep in can continue my dream for that one hour of sleep.

The same exact thing that happened to me and just happened right now I thought I was awake but I was dreaming as I was awake someone threw a ball and I sleep with my hands and caught it and realized I was dreaming while I was awake your symptoms are exactly as mine and it happened to May the same way

The same exact thing that happened to you and just happened right now I thought I was awake but I was dreaming as I was awake someone threw a ball and I caught it in my hands in reality,then realized I was dreaming while I was awake your symptoms are exactly as mine and it happened to Me the same way. I also can be dreaming wake up for the bathroom go back to bed and resume the dream where I left off and have instances where I said to the person in my dream I know this is a dream and I could control the outcome really weird I think science really needsome to investigate the mystery of dreaming

This is so weird,what you explained happens to me, that in the middle of the conversation with someone i will drift into a dream and back then say something unrelated to the conversation and only then I would realise I was dreaming. This usually happens to me when am tired or I always thought it's sleep related. The other weird thing is that when I wake up in "a not my usual time to wake up", and still remember my dream;when I go back to sleep in can continue my dream for that one hour of sleep.

I had this exact experience last night and it was terrifying to say the least. I was cooking alone and started to have only what I can describe as dreams infringe on me while I was what I thought to be wide awake. The crazy thing is it would only last a second or two because I was continuing to cook, but it was causing me confusion. My daughter was nearby and anytime she would talk to me I was fully lucid and then when I went back to cooking it would start happening again. It was freaking me out so much that I was then having trouble concentrating due to anxiety. I was fine during dinner when I was sitting there with the fam (well except that I was highly worried about what had just happened to me and had little appetite), but later that night while I was reading to my son it was happening again, I was reading to him but sort of making up parts of the book in memory after reading a page. It was really unsettling and I had a really hard time going to sleep last night due to anxiety over the experience, so much so that I had to put on a movie. I seem okay today, I am just really worried about what I experienced last night. Reading these stories made me feel better...at least I'm not alone. I am not on any medications and I had a glass of wine teed up last night but after what was happening I decided not to drink it. The only thing I can figure is that I was actually starting to fall asleep over and over again while cooking and then while reading.

I have had the same experience. I was in a weird dream about people from parallel universes, it was like i could hear them but not see them and they could hear me but not see me, anyway it was weird. When i woke up i was functioning and walking and went to the kitchen to do dishes but i was also still in the dream. My roommate thought i was crazy or loosing it when she came home. I snapped out of it like 3 hrs later then later that night i looked back on it and was like what was i talking about and what happened.

I had this exact experience last night and it was terrifying to say the least. I was cooking alone and started to have only what I can describe as dreams infringe on me while I was what I thought to be wide awake. The crazy thing is it would only last a second or two because I was continuing to cook, but it was causing me confusion. My daughter was nearby and anytime she would talk to me I was fully lucid and then when I went back to cooking it would start happening again. It was freaking me out so much that I was then having trouble concentrating due to anxiety. I was fine during dinner when I was sitting there with the fam (well except that I was highly worried about what had just happened to me and had little appetite), but later that night while I was reading to my son it was happening again, I was reading to him but sort of making up parts of the book in memory after reading a page. It was really unsettling and I had a really hard time going to sleep last night due to anxiety over the experience, so much so that I had to put on a movie. I seem okay today, I am just really worried about what I experienced last night. Reading these stories made me feel better...at least I'm not alone. I am not on any medications and I had a glass of wine teed up last night but after what was happening I decided not to drink it. The only thing I can figure is that I was actually starting to fall asleep over and over again while cooking and then while reading.

I somewhat have that. I really want to be studied. Every time I go to sleep, while I&#39;m conscious, I will have maybe 3 second dream clips in my head. Each time I doze I have a new clip and new dream. That&#39;s how I know I&#39;m ready to fall asleep soon. It&#39;s my brains way of telling me I&#39;m ready to fall asleep. I know that I am conscious and awake when this happens because I can still think other thoughts and get up to check my phone easily. It&#39;s just the weirdest thing and I wish I had an explanation.

I somewhat have that. I really want to be studied. Every time I go to sleep, while I&#39;m conscious, I will have maybe 3 second dream clips in my head. Each time I doze I have a new clip and new dream. That&#39;s how I know I&#39;m ready to fall asleep soon. It&#39;s my brains way of telling me I&#39;m ready to fall asleep. I know that I am conscious and awake when this happens because I can still think other thoughts and get up to check my phone easily. It&#39;s just the weirdest thing and I wish I had an explanation.

Wow I have all the symptoms and those things that happened to me over the years it's kind of a relief to know I'm not alone with these weird dreams I just had one right now I was awake but in your dreams day and someone threw a ball to me and I reached up and clapped my hands together and then I caught it and snapped out of it and realize I was dreaming while I was awake it was really strange

Wow I have all the symptoms and those things that happened to me over the years it's kind of a relief to know I'm not alone with these weird dreams I just had one right now I was awake but in your dreams day and someone threw a ball to me and I reached up and clapped my hands together and then I caught it and snapped out of it and realize I was dreaming while I was awake it was really strange

Don&amp;#39;t know what causes it but twice now late at night in the kitchen I have been standing up and am suddenly somewhere else.last time it happened I found myself in a Chinese take away about o miles away.all the furniture was there and then with a strange feeling I found myself back in my kitchen and still standing. I can&amp;#39;t explain it.

Don&amp;#39;t know what causes it but twice now late at night in the kitchen I have been standing up and am suddenly somewhere else.last time it happened I found myself in a Chinese take away about o miles away.all the furniture was there and then with a strange feeling I found myself back in my kitchen and still standing. I can&amp;#39;t explain it.

I just had a waking nightmare I think... Earlier while working I was thinking about a comment my mom had left and the I was suddenly visualising involuntarily, she was chasing me and I was telling her no and she was trying to molest me. It was extremely disturbing, it matched the same hyper way I dream in the night it wasnt like a normal daytime thought, I felt like I was being chased and I had to sit back and refocus for a minute before continuing work. I was trying to research if maybe I had hallucinated or why I reacted that way. But I found my way here. I think she is causing me stress and I know prolonged stress can result in psychosis but I dont know if I fit that category. Ugh... I wish I knew what made me this vulnerable feeling.

I just had a waking nightmare I think... Earlier while working I was thinking about a comment my mom had left and the I was suddenly visualising involuntarily, she was chasing me and I was telling her no and she was trying to molest me. It was extremely disturbing, it matched the same hyper way I dream in the night it wasnt like a normal daytime thought, I felt like I was being chased and I had to sit back and refocus for a minute before continuing work. I was trying to research if maybe I had hallucinated or why I reacted that way. But I found my way here. I think she is causing me stress and I know prolonged stress can result in psychosis but I dont know if I fit that category. Ugh... I wish I knew what made me this vulnerable feeling.

I have host of problems which my sleep doctor believes to be associated with somer sort of sleep disorder. I will be having a second sleep study done next week followed by a daytime study as well. The doctor is specifically looking for narcolepsy and/or an Upper airway restriction.
I have lots of short term memory loss and excessive daytime sleepiness as well. Sleep apnea has been ruled out as of this point.
The newest symptom I am experiencing is dreaming while awake. I can be standing by the sink or working at the computer and dream- not daydream though actually have a dream. For example- While drying dishes and thinking about the slippery roads I dreamt of being in my car and spinning around the road in a circle and actually seeing the telephone pole I nearly missed only to realize my car did not have tires- it actually have ice skates instead- I could see me in my car like a third party and the color of my car was bright as well.
What causes us to dream while really being awake and functioning on some level? Does anyone have an experience similar and currently have a sleep disorder diagnosis?
Sharing your experience or giving any advice is greatly appreciated.

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